Live data from Hacker News

The Future of Programming (2013) [video]

youtube.com

71–80 of 105 posts

Re: The Future of Programming (2013) [video]

#71
post #42

The non-linear code structure (including visually) is something I've been thinking about for a long time and arrived at very naturally. I'm the "spread all the papers on the table to take in every interaction all at once" type of person, and so often I imagined a code editor that would allow me to just "cut" a piece of code and move it to the side. Separating stuff into files is kinda this, but it's not visual and ju…

yea i tried to do this (somewhat successfully) with a custom editor for css https://github.com/feralsoft/charisma (demos on my old x https://x.com/charisma_css)

css is primed for this since you can write your rules in such a way that rule order doesn't matter, which means you really don't have to think about where your code it

in my dream world, i have very smart search (probably llms will help), i look at just the minimal amount of code (ideally on a canvas), edit it and remove it from my context

i don't care where or how the code is stored, let the editor figure it out and just give me really good search and debuggers

Re: The Future of Programming (2013) [video]

#72
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not true at all IMO. Reading code is reading code regardless of whether you have a fancy IDE or not. S-expressions are indisputably harder to learn to read. Most languages have some flexibility in how you can format your code before it becomes unreadable or confusing. C has some, Lua has some, Ruby has some, and Python has maybe fewer but only because you're more tightly constrained by the whitespace syntax. Sexpr fa…

Programming without IDE in 21st century is like making fire with stones and wood sticks. A required skill for survival in the woods, not something to do daily. This point of view applies to any programming language. By the way you use two languages as example, that are decades behind Lisp regarding GC technology and native code generation.

I view code in many contexts though - diffs in emails, code snippets on web pages, in github's web UI, there are countless ways in which I need to read a piece of code outside of my preferred editor. And it is nicer, in my opinion, to read languages that have visually distinct parts to them. I'm sure it is because I'm used to it, but it really makes it hard to switch to a language that looks so uniform and requires additional tools outside of my brain to take a look at it.

Re: The Future of Programming (2013) [video]

#74
Bret Victor speaks so idealistically it's difficult to disagree with his vision, but in reality he's a radicalized, scrappy cult leader. His ideas sound super cool but they're impractical - that's why nobody can make them work. We're delusional for worshiping him.

https://christophlocher.com/notes/ethnographic-research-on-d...

Re: The Future of Programming (2013) [video]

#75

I was greatly inspired by his work. After getting enough skills, I even built my own IDE with live coding and time traveling. Its practical use is questionable, and it seems like nobody is really interested in such tools. Playground: https://anykey111.github.io Images: https://github.com/anykey111/xehw

I've come around to feeling that if I'm going to make an experimental development tool, I need to make it in service of building something specific. Maybe something playful... if I'm building something "important" then it can put unwanted conservative pressure on the tool. But something, and if I do that then at least I have something interesting regardless of the fate of the development tool. Because yeah, there's a…

I share a similar sentiment.

I have a deep drive to build the "important" stuff so that my life has meaning, but there's something hard to motivate about any given thing being "important" when you look at it long enough. It seems like the "important" thing I'm building eventually looks ridiculous and I bounce off of it.

Re: The Future of Programming (2013) [video]

#77

I was greatly inspired by his work. After getting enough skills, I even built my own IDE with live coding and time traveling. Its practical use is questionable, and it seems like nobody is really interested in such tools. Playground: https://anykey111.github.io Images: https://github.com/anykey111/xehw

I think your time might be now.

One major issue with vibe coding is parsing divergent code paths, when different prompts create different solutions and architectural compromises.

Parsing that mess is a major headache, but with live coding and time travel,I bet those tools would make managing divergent code branches easier and really take advantage of branching repositories with multiple agents all working in tandem.

Re: The Future of Programming (2013) [video]

#79
post #61

I was greatly inspired by his work. After getting enough skills, I even built my own IDE with live coding and time traveling. Its practical use is questionable, and it seems like nobody is really interested in such tools. Playground: https://anykey111.github.io Images: https://github.com/anykey111/xehw

Me too, for my master thesis: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HnZipJOan54&t=1249s It was a language designed alongside its IDE (which was a fairly rudimentary web app).

Exciting stuff, thanks for sharing!
Post reply on HN